ISLAMABAD: The river flows have improved for now with river Kabul in high floods but drought-like conditions have already hit most parts of the country, affecting Kharif crops.
The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Friday said the river flows had more than tripled to 342,400 cusec since May 26 when they stood at 108,000 cusec.
Therefore, the water shares to Punjab and Sindh had been increased significantly and storage had been improved to one million acre feet (MAF).
“This dry condition caused water stress in the agriculture areas of the country that demands availability of more supplementary irrigation water for Kharif crops”, the PMD said.
It said the water availability in major reservoirs was low, however, water situation in major dams would improve with increase in temperature.
As a result, river inflows have further increased from 342,400 cusec on Friday to 356,300 cusec or 13,900 cusec higher than Thursday and 108,000cusec on May 26.
River Kabul was in high flood on Friday with its flows recorded at 91,000cs at Nowshera.
Punjab’s share was increased from 100,200 cusec to 107,000 cusec while Sindh’s share was increased to 110,000 cusec from 90,000 cusec.
Balochistan and Sindh were already getting full share of 14,000 cusec and 3100 cusec respectively.
Kharif cropping season starts from April-June and lasts until October-December in different parts of the country.